In December 2205, the Jovian Senate approved the establishment of a small Jovian colony on Alpha Centauri-B II. The Enclave colonists already on the planet would be moved by Federation colony ships to Plataea, the other occupied Enclave colony in the Alpha Centauri-B solar system. From the perspective of the Skye colonists Alpha Centauri-B II was a low gravity world so Plataea would be a more suitable environment. Humans could tolerate a lower gravity than the Skye, which made Alpha Centauri-B II a normal gravity colony cost 2.00 world. To mark the founding of the new colony the planet was renamed Thebes, in keeping with the policy of naming Jovian colonies after ancient Greek cities. The conquered colony on the second planet of the Alpha Centauri-A system was named Corinth. Later the same month the Third Battle Squadron arrived to relieve the Second, which headed for Sparta for an overhaul and a well-needed rest.
The Senate debated a second subject that related to changing names. The Jovian ground forces had been key to the success of Jovian operations in the Alpha Centauri system, capturing three Enclave colonies and seven ships. Historically the ground forces had played a secondary role to the Federation Navy and they lacked the glamour and appeal of their sister service. Even their naming conventions had been functional rather than inspirational. With the prospect of a massive ground operation to capture the Enclave home world, the senior officers of the ground forces proposed an complete overhaul of that nomenclature in a bid to inspire their troops and improve the image of the ground forces in the eyes of the public. Cultural elements of both Imperial Rome and Ancient Greece permeated the Jovian Federation so the proposal was to rename the ground forces along the lines of one of the most feared military forces in history – the Roman Legions.
Each brigade would be reclassified as a Legio and assigned a Roman numerical designation plus the name of a Greek deity, such as Legio I ‘Zeus’, or Legio II ‘Apollo’. The existing battalions would be renamed as cohorts, the overall force would be named the Jovian Legions and individual soldiers would be known as Legionnaires. Rank names would also be changed, with a Legatus commanding each Legion and a Centurion commanding each cohort. In the Roman Republic and Empire after the Marius reforms there were several different ranks of Centurion, with most commanding a century of 80 or 160 men. Once engaged in battle though the Centurion commanding the lead century in each cohort would assume command of the entire cohort. The reserve battalions which were used primarily for garrison duty would be grouped into Legion size formations and designated as Auxilia. Like the Legions, the Auxilia would comprise four cohorts and a headquarters unit and they would be assigned a Roman numerical designation. However they would not initially bear a name as that honour was reserved for the front-line Legions. It would be possible for Auxilia to be granted a name if they distinguished themselves in battle. The Senate approved the proposed changes with a strong majority and the Jovian Ground Forces became the Jovian Legions.
Three months passed without any significant incident, until February 13th 2206 when a new Black Widow destroyer was launched by the Skye Enclave. The Third Battle Squadron was within five million kilometres of the Enclave home world and moved to intercept. Within a few minutes an inbound salvos of five size-5 missiles were detected. The cruisers Immortalis and Imperator launched a salvo of twenty Javelins at the Black Widow while the laser-armed warships Centaur, Scylla and Achilles shot down the hostile missiles. Further salvos of Enclave missiles arrived but none penetrated the squadrons defences. The first wave of Javelins scored sixteen hits. Two follow-up salvos, each of ten Javelins, was sufficient to destroy the target. Two weeks later a newly launched Mamba class survey ship was detected. The Minotaur class destroyer Centaur chased it down and destroyed it.
On March 30th, a second Nike class dropship was completed, along with the first unit of a new Jovian class – the Daedalus class Fast Attack Craft. The Daedalus was armed with a single 15cm laser and was capable of 8000 km/s, allowing it to catch and destroy all known Enclave ships, including the fast scouts. The new Prometheus Stardrives PS-160G Fast Attack Engine was based on recently developed magneto-plasma technology rather than the ion technology on which the engines of existing Jovian warships were based. The high speed of the Daedalus would also allow it to run down the various Enclave ships that were located in a wide arc a billion kilometres from the Enclave home world. Some of these ships were commercial vessels avoiding the Third Battle Squadron, while others were believed to be missile combatants without ordnance. Previous attempts to intercept these ships had been called off because their billion kilometres head-start meant any pursuit by normal Jovian warships would take those pursuing warships up to five billion kilometres into deep space and they would have to be accompanied by an Athena class sensor platform in order to maintain contact. Given the regular combat within Alpha Centauri Admiral Charleston had decided against allowing warships to be absent for so long.
Daedalus class Fast Attack Craft 1,000 tons 22 Crew 297.8 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 4.47 Years MSP 93 AFR 16% IFR 0.2% 1YR 8 5YR 113 Max Repair 115 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Spare Berths 3
Prometheus Stardrives PS-160G Fast Attack Engine (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 376.18% Signature 160 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 9.6 billion km (13 days at full power)
Apollo-Artemis 15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10
FN/SPG-21 Beam Fire Control (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Small Stellarator Fusion Reactor (1) Total Power Output 3 Armour 0 Exp 5%
FN/SPS-22 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 1400 Range 15.4m km Resolution 100In early April 2206 a small freighter of the Denoon Transport Corporation reached the Zoltan home world in the Typhon system. A liaison officer from the Federation Navy was onboard the freighter and reported back to Fleet Headquarters. There had obviously been combat between the Zoltan Empire, Star Vikings and Republic of India, with a total of seventeen wrecks from the three powers. Given the lack of combat in Sol between the Star Vikings and India, it seemed likely the two Solarian powers were allied against the Zoltan. In orbit of the home world itself were nine Incubus class FACs, a total of seven Talos and Talona class units with a minimal thermal signature, suggesting they were orbital weapon platforms, six Auril class with a thermal signature of 1200 and a single Acheron with a thermal signature of 1123. The freighter did not mount active sensors so the sizes of the various classes could not be determined. The size of the Incubus was already known due to three Incubus wrecks in Typhon.
On April 5th two Nephelai class Tankers were launched from the Runquist-Ricci Shipyard in orbit of Europa. The Nephelais would allow the Federation to move fuel around far more easily. The operations of battle squadrons sent to Alpha Centauri-A were restricted by the amount of fuel required to move between the two stars of the Alpha Centauri system. Therefore one of the new tankers was dispatched to Corinth, site of the occupied Enclave colony of ninety million, to establish a fuel depot.
Nephelai class Tanker 20,800 tons 114 Crew 1147.2 BP TCS 416 TH 1200 EM 0
2884 km/s Armour 1-67 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/11/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 34 Max Repair 75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 0
Prometheus Stardrives PS-300C Commercial Ion Drive (4) Power 300 Fuel Use 6.19% Signature 300 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 10,000,000 Litres Range 1397.7 billion km (5609 days at full power)
FN/SPN-1 Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 2080 Range 20.1m km Resolution 130
FN/SLR-2 Passive EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m kmThe first Daedalus class refuelled at Sparta and headed for the Alpha Centauri-A system. With its active sensor switched off to avoid detection, the FAC swept out behind a group of eight Enclave Cobra class destroyers that were slipping in and out of sensor range a billion kilometres from the Third Battle Squadron. The Daedalus appeared to remain undetected until it was very close to its target. The Cobras, which were assumed to be missile warships that lacked ammunition, attempted to run but the FAC had more than double their top speed. Despite their 72-1 tonnage advantage, the destroyers were totally helpless and the Daedalus was a wolf among the sheep. One by one the Cobras were subjected to a barrage of laser fire until they were disabled and drifting. A single Cobra was destroyed due to a secondary power explosion but the rest were only crippled. One Cobra managed to repair an engine and tried to move away. The Daedalus quickly intercepted and disabled the ship once again.
The Pallas class dropship carrier that had remained in orbit of Corinth moved out to the group of crippled destroyers and released its Nike class dropship, carrying the second cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’. The legionnaires easily boarded one of the stationary Cobras and secured the ship within a few minutes. Interrogation of the crew revealed the ship was known as a Sai class destroyer escort. Compared to the Federation Aquila the vessel was similarly armed but had longer range and was much more heavily armoured. The Sai had been heavily damaged by the attack of the Daedalus and had lost all of its fuel storage. Repairs by the crew had restored the engines but the fuel storage was still open to space and the ship had no engineering spares or fuel remaining. The Hercules class tug was dispatched to recover the ship and tow it to Sparta. An Aeolus salvage vessel was also dispatched from Sparta to recover the wreck of the destroyed Cobra. Meanwhile, the Nike began transferring the legionnaires from the captured ship to its drop modules so they could launch a second boarding operation.
Sai class Destroyer Escort (ex-Enclave) 9,000 tons 154 Crew 1566 BP TCS 180 TH 576 EM 0
3200 km/s Armour 6-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 11/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 10
Maint Life 0.84 Years MSP 326 AFR 216% IFR 3% 1YR 388 5YR 5816 Max Repair 324 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 826
96 EP Ion Drive (6) Power 96 Fuel Use 73.6% Signature 96 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,250,000 Litres Range 34.0 billion km (122 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC35-R1 (2) Range 35.6m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR35-R1 (1) GPS 324 Range 35.6m km MCR 3.9m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m kmIt took almost three days for the second cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’ to transfer to the Nike class dropship and prepare for a second combat drop. The second operation was as successful as the first and this time they found a relatively intact ship. The Enclave crew had repaired all the internal damage from their own resources but they too lacked fuel as it had been lost into space when their fuel storage was damaged. Once the ship was refuelled it would be able to make its way to Sparta under its own power. Similar problems due to fuel loss had affected the Second Battle Squadron in its engagement with the Intruders. Admiral Charleston noted that for the future, perhaps compartmentalised fuel storage might be a wise design choice for Federation warships, even with the additional cost. The third Sai to boarded and captured was as damaged as the first and would require towing. Although the fourth was also seriously damaged, the crew had repaired several engines and part of the fuel storage so it would be able to get underway once refuelled.
Meanwhile, the Enclave Aragon class battlecruiser which had also been lurking at the edge of sensor range was now heading straight for the Enclave home world. Unlike previous occasions when it had moved inwards but then retreated, the Aragon was holding its course, suggesting the Enclave home world had produced suitable ordnance for the battlecruiser. The Third Battle Squadron was still acting as ‘goalkeeper’ near the Enclave home world so Rear Admiral Armand Benitez, recently promoted from Commodore, detached one of his Minotaur class destroyers with orders to disable the inbound warship. Pegasus closed in and attempted to disable the 18,000 ton battlecruiser. Three full broadsides slowed the Aragon before the destroyer switched to a single 15cm laser, holding back at 50,000 kilometres to reduce the damage. Unfortunately, even with such precautions, firing into a damaged warship was unpredictable. The Aragon was still moving at 533 km/s when a single strength-3 hit caused it to explode. Pegasus picked up the survivors and headed back to the Third Battle Squadron.
A second Pallas dropship carrier arrived in the area of the remaining crippled Enclave destroyers and launched the recently constructed Nike 002, which was carrying the first cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’. A fifth crippled Sai class was captured shortly thereafter. Nike 001 combat dropped the second cohort for the fifth time and captured a sixth Sai, the most heavily damaged so far. Nike 002 carried out its second combat drop on May 3rd and the first cohort captured the seventh and final Enclave DD. This Sai did have limited fuel storage capacity but all six engines were disabled. By this point the Hercules class tug was towing one of the captured destroyers toward Sparta. Two more had taken a small amount of fuel from the Pallas class dropship carriers and were moving under their own power toward a rendezvous with the approaching Nephelai class tanker. The remainder would be recovered one at a time by the Hercules.
It was remarkable the difference that had been made in the tactical situation by the introduction of a single laser-armed fast attack craft. The combination of the Daedalus class FAC, two Nike class drop ships and the two Pallas class mother ships had resulted in the destruction of one 9000 ton Enclave destroyer and the capture of seven more. Admiral Charleston authorised the Athena II class sensor platform accompanying the Third Battle Squadron to move in the direction of the Daedalus FAC in an attempt to locate more of the Enclave ships that were known to be even further out than the Sai class destroyers. She was also considering moving deep space tracking stations to Corinth to get a better picture of the area around Alpha Centauri-A. The Athena moved outward for thirty-six hours, covering half the distance to the FAC, without detecting any additional Skye vessels. Admiral Charleston was unwilling to move her further out and ordered her back to the Third Battle Squadron.
On June 16th, the Skye Enclave launched a Mongoose class fast scout. The Mongoose, with a top speed of 5866 km/s, was faster than any of the ship in the Third Battle Squadron. While it was still possible to destroy the scout with missile fire from Immortalis and Imperator, the Federation Navy was using ordnance faster than the factories on Io could replace it. Admiral Charleston had put standing orders in place that energy weapons should always be used in preference to missiles where it was possible to do so without risking Jovian lives. The Daedalus class FAC, operating from the occupied colony on Corinth, moved out to intercept and destroyed the Mongoose with laser fire.
Later the same month, a large number of Enclave Blackjack class freighters, spread out in a ragged formation, were detected heading toward the Sol jump point. The destroyer Cerberus moved out from Sparta to intercept with orders to disable if possible. In the past, the Federation Navy had ignored the freighters, partly because they were no threat and partly because a future surrender by the Skye Enclave would result in those freighters transferring to Jovian control. In this case however other Solarian powers would intercept and destroy those ships as soon as they entered the Sol system. The obsolete freighters, with a top speed less than 1000 km/s, were fragile and using sufficient force to disable all four of their engines often resulted in the destruction of the ship. Cerberus managed to disable three, all of which were boarded and captured. Twelve more were destroyed.
Cerberus picked up the survivors from all fifteen freighters. Interrogations were carried out by Jovian Naval Intelligence, leading to the discovery of a significant item of information. Apparently, the Skye Enclave had carried out a gravitational survey of Lalande, the system from which the Intruder mother ships had entered Alpha Centauri, without discovering any new jump points. Alpha Centauri had three jump points, leading to Sol, Lalande and Hesperus. The Federation Navy had already surveyed Hesperus and found it was a dead-end system but had avoided Lalande due to the presence of the Intruders. The news that it too was a dead-end meant the Jovian Federation could not expand beyond Alpha Centauri and any future expansion would have to take place through one of Sol’s other jump points. That did not diminish the value of Alpha Centauri in terms of its planets and resources but it could no longer be viewed a stepping stone to the rest of the galaxy.
Sol had seven jump points. In order of distance from the Sun they led to Wolf 359, Proxima, Barnard’s Star, Alpha Centauri, Sirius, Luhman and Typhon. Barnard’s Star was the first in a dead-end chain of three systems, the second of which, Altair, was home to the Jovian colony of Athens, while Typhon was the home system of the Zoltan Empire. Neither of those was a possible expansion route. Sirius, a binary with a huge A1-V primary, had ten jump points but due to the mass of the star they were widely dispersed. The entry point from Sol was ten billion kilometres from the primary, which meant any expansion through Sirius would be difficult due to the distances involved. That left Wolf 359, Proxima and Luhman. The wreck of the Jovian survey ship Oceanus was found in FL Virginis, one of the systems adjacent to Wolf 359, in 2201. The perpetrator of the attack was still unknown and the potential threat of attacks from that system into Wolf 359 ruled out the Wolf 359 chain as an expansion route, at least until a sufficient force could be sent into FL Virginis to determine the level of that threat. It was even possible one of the other Solarian powers had already eliminated whatever alien force had attacked Oceanus.
Proxima had five jump points, all of which had been previously explored by the Federation Navy without encountering any hostile force. Luhman only had two jump points, the second of which led to EZ Aquarii, a system with four jump points of its own. Jovian survey forces had investigated the three systems beyond EZ Aquarii, again without finding any alien presence. Both of these chains were therefore possible expansion routes. Proxima was selected for the first survey operations as the Sol – Proxima jump point was approximately one point one billion kilometres from the Jovian home worlds, while Luhman was three billion kilometres away. In fact, the orbit of Jupiter would eventually bring it within five hundred million kilometres of the Proxima jump point. The main disadvantage of the Proxima route was that the Sol – Proxima jump point lay within the inner system, approximately sixty million kilometres outside the orbit of Mars, and therefore close to the home worlds of several Solarian powers. Should conflict ever break out between the Jovian Federation and one of those powers, it would be difficult to maintain commercial traffic through that jump point. For the moment though Admiral Charleston had decided to take the easier option of the Proxima chain, at least until the Federation had knowledge of what lay within a few transits of Sol.
The Federation Navy had eight survey ships in service, six of which were Hyperion class gravitational survey vessels while the remaining two were Prometheus class geological survey vessels. All eight were in orbit of Europa as Federation survey operations had been on hold for some time. Until the new intelligence became available, the assumption had been that survey operations would resume once the Enclave had surrendered and the Federation Navy had cleared the Intruders from Lalande. Admiral Charleston issued new orders and the eight ships broke orbit and transited into Proxima. The Hyperions were split into pairs and dispatched to the systems of Acheron, Kapteyn’s Star and Minos, while one Prometheus moved into Epsilon Indi and the other into Acheron. Prometheus, the lead ship of her class, detected a colony of the Republic of India on the sole planet of Epsilon Indi-A.
On August 14th, Hercules delivered an Orpheus-M class orbital weapons platform to Corinth to support the Orpheus class already in orbit. Unlike her two sisters, orbiting Sparta and Europa, the latest Orpheus-M was armed with the recently developed Gladius II AAMs, which had a speed of 44,800 km/s, compared to the 33,600 km/s speed of the Gladius I. With thirty launchers and more than twelve hundred missiles in her magazines, the Orpheus-M provided the same missile defence as three Aquila class escorts.
Two months later the Skye Enclave launched its latest Piranha class battleship. The Third Battle Squadron launched four salvos of twenty Javelin anti-ship missiles, scoring a total of forty-seven hits and reducing the battleship to just 355 km/s. Seeing an opportunity, Rear Admiral Armand Benitez requested the support of the Nike dropship in orbit of Corinth. His request was granted and the Nike’s Pallas class mothership brought it within a few million kilometres of the crippled Piranha. Attempting a boarding operation was very dangerous as the battleship’s weapons might still be operational, despite heavy damage. The Nike approached at 9600 km/s and was struck by two strength-1 energy weapon hits at a range of 144,000 km. Considering the range and the speed of the dropship, that suggested the battleship’s armament was still formidable. Although Nike could cover the remaining distance in fifteen seconds, the recharge rate of the Piranha was unknown. The Nike had little armour and would be extremely vulnerable if the battleship fired again when it was much closer. Read Admiral Benitez ordered the dropship to abort.
Unfortunately, the crew of the dropship suffered from the same lack of training that had affected the Second Battle Squadron in its recent battle with the Intruders. It took a full minute for the dropship to acknowledge, halt its attack, come about and begin to move away. During that time the Piranha fired six more times, inflicting a total of thirteen more hits. Much of the Nike’s armour was destroyed along with two of its fuel storage compartments. Its engine and drop module were both struck but survived. A fifth salvo arrived from the Third Battle Squadron and the Piranha blew up. The dropship and the first cohort of Legio III Ares had had a lucky escape. Rear Admiral Benitez dispatched a report to Fleet Headquarters strongly suggesting that an armoured dropship be developed for attacks on enemy warships.
Shortly after the destruction of the Enclave battleship, warships from three different Solarian powers entered Alpha Centauri. A battleship and a destroyer from the Martian Union remained on the jump point for several hours before returning to Sol while a 16,900 ton Bosisio class battlecruiser of the Latin Alliance set course for the Alpha Centauri-B system. The largest force was from the Star Vikings; five 16,900 ton battlecruisers and ten 8450 ton destroyers. All fifteen ships set course for the Alpha Centauri-A system. With only three laser-armed bases in orbit, it seemed unlikely that the Skye Enclave would be able to hold-off such a formidable fleet. Several senior Jovian officers, including Rear Admiral Benitez, urged Admiral Charleston to reconsider her position on bombarding planetary targets. Otherwise, it seemed very likely that the Enclave home world would fall to an attack by the Star Viking armada.
While the debate was still ongoing at Fleet Headquarters, events moved on in Alpha Centauri. On October 28th, one of the six captured Raven class terraformers in orbit of Plataea was blown to pieces by eleven strength-8 detonations. The Orpheus class orbital weapon platform that would normally guard the planet against missile attack was at Sparta being overhauled while the threat level from the Enclave was deemed to be low. The only potential attacker was the Latin Bosisio class battlecruiser which was one hundred and eighty million kilometres from Plataea and only fifty million kilometres from Sparta. The Second Battle Squadron in Sparta orbit immediately went to action stations and targeted the battlecruiser. Commodore Kikugawa Takeo contacted the Latin Alliance warship and demanded an explanation for the unprovoked attack. It quickly became apparent that the commanding officer of the Latin ship believed the Raven was an Enclave vessel and was unaware it had been captured by the Jovian Federation. He apologised profusely and self-destructed several waves of missiles that were already in flight toward the other five Raven class terraformers. The Second Battle Squadron stood down and a strong protest was registered on Earth by the Jovian ambassador. Within a few days, the Latin Alliance formerly apologised and made reparations for the ship and its crew. The Jovian Federation ensured that all ships that it had captured from the Skye Enclave were known to the other Solarian powers.
The debate at Jovian Fleet Headquarters concentrated on two possible ways to avoid the conquest of the Enclave home world by the approaching Star Viking fleet. The first was to conquer the Enclave in the few days before the Star Vikings arrived and the second was to provide anti-missile support for the Enclave defenders. Although six Legions had been forwarded deployed to Corinth in anticipation of an invasion, there was serious doubt that they would be enough to overcome the defenders. The signature of the Enclave ground forces was almost strength-700 so even if the Legions did have greater strength than the defenders, it would not be sufficient to win the battle in the time available, at least not without significant support from orbital bombardment. Another option for swift conquest was outright orbital bombardment without a ground force element, attempting to force a surrender by targeting population centres. However, Admiral Charleston was firmly against any option that involved large-scale civilian casualties or destruction of industry. The second strategy was to assist with the defence of the planet. This would involve positioning the Third Battle Squadron between the Enclave home world and the Star Viking fleet and attempting to destroy any missiles heading for the planet. Of course, that would be little use against a beam attack but a beam attack could only target the shipyards in orbit rather than the population on the surface.
Admiral Charleston listened to all the opinions of her staff and senior commanders and decided on the assisted defence approach. She ordered the understrength Second Battle Squadron to depart Sparta orbit and provide support for the Third Battle Squadron. In addition, she instructed her staff to prepare for a ground invasion of the Enclave home world as soon as the present crisis was over. This would be a deliberate and prepared attack rather than rushing into action before the deadline of the approaching Star Viking fleet. By this point, the Latin Bosisio class battlecruiser was also heading for the Enclave home world and this ship was known to be armed with missiles.
The shipyards of the Enclave home world launched a pair of Raven class terraformers. Both were destroyed at long range by the approaching Bosisio, after her commander had confirmed they were Enclave vessels. The Bosisio class battlecruiser was faster than the Star Viking fleet and arrived within attack range of the Enclave home world first. At 6am on November 11th, the Third Battle Squadron detected inbound missiles. The squadron was positioned a million kilometres from the Enclave home world in the direction of the Latin battlecruiser. All the 10cm laser turrets on Achilles and the 15cm lasers on Centaur and Scylla were in area defence mode. It was apparent the track of the first salvo of twelve missiles would pass outside the range of Achilles but Scylla destroyed a missile at a range of 120,000 kilometres. The squadron began adjusting its position to bring the 10cm lasers into range of subsequent waves. Scylla and Centaur had time for two shots against the second wave, destroying five missiles, By the time the third wave arrived the Third Battle Squadron was directly in its path. All twelve missiles were hit. The orbital bases killed all the missiles that the Jovian task group had missed from the first two salvos. From the fourth salvo onwards, no Latin missiles made it past the Third Battle Squadron. With its magazines exhausted, the Bosisio headed for home.
The Second Battle Squadron arrived to reinforce the Third before the first Star Viking ship arrived, creating a combined force of four Invictus class missile cruisers, three Minotaur class destroyers, three Achilles class destroyer escorts, three Aquila class escorts, one Athena II class sensor platform and one Mithras class ammunition transport. The Star Viking main body comprised thirteen ships, with two ships preceding it. The lead vessel was a Troll class destroyer of 8450 tons followed by 16.900 ton Grendel class battlecruiser. The two ships were sufficiently far apart that they would approach individually. With the destroyer at twenty-two million kilometres from the Enclave home world the orbital shipyards launched a pair of Panther class construction ships, which immediately headed away from both the Third Battle Squadron and the approaching Star Viking warship. There was no sign of any missile attack on the Panthers or the orbital bases, leading Rear Admiral Benitez to conclude the Troll was armed with energy weapons. If that was the case, the Jovian task group would be unable to assist. Given the assumed short range of the Enclave orbital bases the likely result was that the Troll would stand off and eliminate the bases one by one.
Benitez contacted Vice Admiral Charleston and urged her to reconsider the Jovian strategy. If the bases were eliminated, the likely result was that the Star Vikings or some other Solarian power would bombard the Enclave into submission. Whoever captured the Enclave home world would gain a huge advantage over the other Solarian powers. Therefore Rear Admiral Benitez recommended a declaration of war against the Star Vikings. The Second and Third Battle Squadrons would attack and destroy the fleet approaching the Enclave home world while the First and Fourth Battle Squadrons based at Europa would eliminate all Star Viking forces in Sol. Admiral Charleston rejected that proposal, pointing out to Benitez in the strongest terms that the Jovian Federation did not start wars. The Federation Navy was the shield of the Jovian Federation and would not be used in an attack on a power that had never threatened it. Rear Admiral Benitez considered this a display of weakness of the part of Vice Admiral Charleston and seriously considered attacking the Star Vikings anyway for the long-term good of the Federation. Eventually, he settled for moving his force within 200,000 kilometres of the planet so he could act if the situation demanded it.
The Troll class destroyer closed to 38,000 kilometres before both sides opened fire simultaneously. Forty-two strength-1 energy weapon impacts were detected in the same location as the Enclave bases, suggesting the Troll was armed with railguns. The bases retaliated, inflicting forty-five strength-2 hits on the Viking destroyer. The Troll began to pull away, its commander no doubt stunned by the volume of fire from the bases, but it was struck by an second powerful volley a few seconds later and exploded. While the destruction of the destroyer vindicated the more cautious approach of Vice Admiral Charleston, Benitez was fully aware that had the destroyer been armed with longer-ranged weapons, the brief engagement might have gone very differently. A few hours later the second Star Viking ship approached. In this case though the Grendel class battlecruiser came to a halt forty-five million kilometres from the planet and launched a missile attack. Each wave consisted of only seven missiles. The Jovian task group was positioned between the incoming fire and the planet and shot down every inbound missile. The Grendel headed away from the planet. As it passed the main body of thirteen ships, they all reversed course and follow the battlecruiser. Whether this was because they were dedicated escort vessels, or because the Star Vikings had decided to cease their attack in order to avoid a direct confrontation with the Jovian Federation was unknown. Nevertheless, the immediate crisis was over and the Federation Navy began initial preparations for the invasion of the Enclave home world. This would take some time as however as Admiral Charleston planned to wait for a new Legio to complete its training.
Meanwhile, the survey operations in the Proxima chain were well under way. By mid-November a gravitational survey had been completed in both Acheron and Minos, finding three and five new jump points respectively. One of the jump points in Acheron led to the known system of Tau Ceti, which already connected to Sol via EZ Aquarii and Luhman. Now it could also be reached via Proxima and Acheron. A jump point in Minos connected to Adrastea, a binary system with two red dwarves orbiting twenty-two billion kilometres apart. The second planet of Adrastea-B was an ideal habitable world. Unfortunately, there was no Lagrange point in the Adrastea-B solar system so it was not a very good location for a colony. The survey ship Helios transited another of the newly discovered jump points in Minos and found Styx, a red dwarf system with three planets. The second planet was super-terrestoid world with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of 1.84atm, surface temperature of -1C and a gravity of 2.15G, placing it beyond the upper edge of human tolerance. Styx also contained four wrecks ranging from 4000 tons to 24,900 tons, one of which was a known class of the Secundus. Helios briefly returned to Minos to send a message to Fleet Headquarters on Europa then transited back into Styx and held position at the jump point. A salvage ship was dispatched from Sol, along with two Minerva class freighters and a Mercury class jump freighter. A few days later Helios detected the approach of two Secundus ships, both of which were previously unknown types. Their tonnage was unknown because they were being detected via their active emissions. Helios transited into Minos and ran for the Proxima jump point but there was no sign of pursuit.
On November 19th 2206, the Enclave home world launched two destroyers, an Eagle and a Kingfisher, both of which were believed to be armed with energy weapons. The missile cruisers from the Second and Third Battle Squadrons destroyed both ships with a total of sixty Javelin anti-ship missiles. A Daedalus class fast attack craft intercepted and attempted to disable the two Enclave construction ships. Unfortunately the attempt was unsuccessful and both were destroyed.
The shipyards of the Enclave continued their recent surge in activity by completing three Hammerhead class FACs and an Eagle class destroyer. Although the FACs launched before they could be attacked, the twelve missile salvo was easily dealt with by the Jovian task group. Five Javelins were directed against each FAC, which was sufficient to destroy all three. The Eagle was targeted by thirty Javelins and left dead in space. Rear Admiral Benitez sent in one of his Minotaur class destroyers to test if the Eagle retained any of its combat capability. As there was no sign of enemy fire, Benitez ordered a capture attempt. A Pallas class dropship carrier was waiting at Corinth, with Nike 002 in its hangar bay. The Pallas brought the Nike within ten million kilometres before the dropship left the hangar bay and combat dropped the first cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’ on to the stationary Enclave destroyer. The legionnaires quickly secured the ship, which was identified by its crew as a Sentry class destroyer escort.
The Enclave Sentry class destroyer escort had a similar design philosophy to the Federation Navy’s Achilles class and both types were equipped with six 10cm laser turrets. Despite being smaller the Achilles was more capable as it was equipped with three fire controls compared to the single tracking control of the Sentry and those fire controls had a tracking speed of 16,000 km/s compared to 12,000 km/s. The Achilles was also faster and had greater endurance in terms of its engineering capability and crew accommodations. The Sentry had three times the fuel capacity of the Achilles, although its engines were less efficient. Even so that gave it double the operating range of its Jovian rival. It also possessed a much more capable missile detection sensor than even the Aquila class escort. Finally, the armour protection of the Sentry was significantly better than the Achilles. Unfortunately, all the engines and weapons were disabled and the fuel storage was open to space. The Sentry’s maintenance supplies had been exhausted, presumably by repairing its fire control and reactors, so it could not repair itself further. It would have to be towed back to Europa by the Hercules class Tug.
Sentry class Destroyer Escort (ex-Enclave) 9,000 tons 214 Crew 1473 BP TCS 180 TH 576 EM 0
3200 km/s Armour 6-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 11/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 49.68
Maint Life 1.3 Years MSP 307 AFR 216% IFR 3% 1YR 191 5YR 2869 Max Repair 324 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 0
96 EP Ion Drive (6) Power 96 Fuel Use 73.6% Signature 96 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,250,000 Litres Range 34.0 billion km (122 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (6x2) Range 48,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 6-6 RM 3 ROF 5 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (8) Total Power Output 36 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR35-R1 (1) GPS 324 Range 35.6m km MCR 3.9m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m kmAnother Kingfisher class destroyer was launched on November 29th and quickly destroyed by a salvo of thirty Javelins. By this point the ships of the Third Battle Squadron had been away from base for just over a year and the morale of its crews was starting to suffer. Therefore Rear Admiral Benitez sought the permission of Vice Admiral Charleston to take the Third Battle Squadron to Corinth for shore leave while the Second Battle Squadron continued to monitor the Enclave home world. He was reluctant to pull the Third Battle Squadron all the way back to Sparta as he wanted it in the vicinity once the invasion of Alpha Centauri-A III began. Corinth was in the same solar system and while its Skye inhabitants would not exactly welcome the Jovian crews, they would at least be on solid ground for a while. The two missile cruisers of the Third transferred enough missiles to their sister ships in the Second to give them full magazines.
Just as the two Battle Squadrons were separating, the Enclave’s orbitals shipyards completed an Alligator class destroyer. As the Third was pulling away anyway it launched twenty Javelins at the destroyer so the Second could remain on station with full magazines. Eighteen Javelins struck their target, leaving the Enclave destroyer dead in space. Rather than finish the ship with a new salvo Rear Admiral Benitez decided to try to capture the ship. A Pallas class dropship carrier was accompanying the Second Battle Squadron to save time if such a capture attempt became possible. During the recent capture of the Sentry class destroyer escort it had taken almost a day for the Pallas to arrive from Corinth so it had remained with the Second Battle Squadron to vastly improve response time. The Alligator had obviously launched missiles before it was hit because a salvo of three size five missiles was detected by the Second Battle Squadron. The missiles were easily shot down by Odysseus and Ajax. The next salvo was directed at the Third Battle Squadron and shot down by Achilles. As the missiles were no serious threat to either Battle Squadron, Benitez decided to ride out the attack and see if any new missiles were being launched by the Alligator. Once it stopped firing, the boarding attempt could begin.
The next couple of salvos were on course to pass behind the Third Battle Squadron. At first Rear Admiral Benitez assumed the missiles had been targeted on his squadron and had continued on their original heading because the Alligator lost its fire control. However, once they passed the area in which the Third Battle Squadron had been located when the missiles were launched, he realised they must have another target - either the recently captured Sentry class or an Aeolus class salvager and two Minerva class freighters salvaging the wreck of a Piranha class battleship. Both potential targets were in the path of the missiles. Benitez immediately ordered his two Aquila class escorts to engage and destroy the missiles. They barely managed to intercept the leading salvo before it moved out of range but after that point they comfortably dealt with the follow-up salvos. Once it was clear the Alligator would not launch any more missiles, the Nike moved in and combat dropped the first Cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’. The Enclave crew quickly surrendered and identified the class of their ship as a Claymore class Jump Destroyer.
The Claymore had the usual strengths of Enclave designs, with strong armour and considerable fuel capacity. This, however, was the first captured ship to be equipped with a jump drive. As it was 9000 tons, it would be able to escort all existing Jovian warships through a jump point, with the exception of the Invictus class missiles cruisers. This would add a new capability to the Federation Navy as none of its existing warship were jump capable. The armament of the Claymore was light, only three missile launchers, but those launchers were the ideal size for Jovian missiles, even if their rate of fire was lower. The fire control and active search sensor had impressive range, much greater than their Jovian equivalents, and it was obvious the Skye Enclave had the edge when it came to sensor systems. The damage to the Claymore was not too extensive but its fuel storage had been destroyed and all fuel lost. Once damage control had repaired the fuel storage and Jovian ships had transferred a small amount of fuel, the Claymore would be able to refuel at Corinth and then reach the Jovian home worlds under its own power.
Claymore class Jump Destroyer (ex-Enclave) 9,000 tons 201 Crew 1324 BP TCS 180 TH 576 EM 0
3200 km/s JR 4-250 Armour 6-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 11/11/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 15
Maint Life 1.59 Years MSP 276 AFR 216% IFR 3% 1YR 126 5YR 1894 Max Repair 216 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 423
J9200(4-250) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 9200 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 4
96 EP Ion Drive (6) Power 96 Fuel Use 73.6% Signature 96 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 27.2 billion km (98 days at full power)
Size 5 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 50
Missile Fire Control FC208-R77 (1) Range 208.5m km Resolution 77
Active Search Sensor MR208-R77 (1) GPS 16632 Range 208.5m km Resolution 77
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m kmTwo weeks after the capture of the Claymore, the Skye Enclave launched two 27,000 ton battleships simultaneously. The first was a Jaguar, known to be missile-armed. The second was a new type, designated as Clairvaux class, and its capabilities were therefore unknown. The understrength Second Battle Squadron, comprising two missile cruisers, one Minotaur, two Achilles and an Aquila, had to confront them alone as the Third Battle Squadron was four hundred million kilometres away in orbit of Corinth. Commodore Kikugawa Takeo, commander of the Second, decided to launch two salvos of twenty Javelins at the new class to test the Enclave point defence. Eleven of the first wave were shot down and the Clairvaux took nine hits. Even though the armour was not penetrated the battleship slowed from 3200 km/s to 3022 km/s, presumably due to losing an engine from shock damage. Twelve hits were scored by the second wave and the speed of the Clairvaux fell to 2844 km/s. The first enemy salvos were detected – waves of eleven size-7 missiles – which corresponded to the known armament of the Jaguar and suggested that the Clairvaux was armed with energy weapons. If that was the case it would have to be destroyed by missiles as it was unlikely that any of the laser-armed warships in the Second Battle Squadron would be able to engage it.
Six inbound salvos were killed by the laser turrets of Ajax and Odysseus. Aquila held on to her missiles as she was the only ship in the Second Battle Squadron armed with AMMs and Commodore Kikugawa Takeo wished to preserve them in case the squadron faced a more serious attack in the future. Two more salvos of Javelins were launched from Impavidus and Inceptris against the Clairvaux followed by four against the Jaguar. After a break of several minutes, more inbound Enclave missiles were detected. Why the Jaguar had ceased fire during that period was unknown. Two missiles penetrated the Jovian defences and Mithras, an ammunition transport, was struck by two strength-15 warheads that blew huge holes in her armour. Two engines were hit but remained operational. The Clairvaux took thirty-one strength-9 hits from the Javelins and was left dead in space. The Jaguar fared better, suffering only a slight drop in speed to 3022 km/s. A fifth salvo targeted against the Jaguar reduced its speed to 2844 km/s.
The waves of incoming missiles ceased so Commodore Takeo detached Odysseus to pursue and attack the Jaguar. Now it was apparently out of ordnance, the battleship would be helpless against her 10cm lasers. Even if it did retain some missiles, Odysseus would be able to defend herself. The Clairvaux was still stationary so Takeo considered a boarding attack. However, given what had happened the last time a Nike had approached a disabled Enclave battleship, he detached Cerberus with orders to approach the Clairvaux and determine its status. Cerberus suffered three strength-1 hits at 165,000 kilometres, confirming that battleship’s weapons were in better shape than its engines. Takeo ordered the destroyer to hold position and return fire. Cerberus was hit twice more before her own weapons came online and she engaged the crippled Enclave battleship. Despite the battleship being three times her tonnage, Cerberus stood her ground and inflicted almost as many hits as she received. Furthermore, while the Jovian destroyer’s armour protected her from laser fire, many of the hits on the Clairvaux inflicted internal damage. After the engagement had continued for approximately ninety seconds, during which time Cerberus suffered seventeen hits, the Enclave battleship stopped firing. Commodore Takeo gave the order for an immediate boarding attempt, before the Clairvaux could repair whatever damage had caused the cessation of fire. Nike 001 delivered the first cohort of Legio III ‘Ares’ without any sign of defensive fire. The ensuing boarding combat was the fiercest shipboard battle ever fought by the legionnaires and continued for almost forty minutes before the battleship was secured.
The captured ship, designated by the Enclave as an Avalon class Jump Battlecruiser, was more than twice the tonnage of the Invictus class missile cruisers, the largest Jovian warship class. Once repaired, it would be a formidable addition to the Federation Navy, despite its low speed and outdated fire control. While its battery of twenty-four 15cm lasers was impressive and its sensor range was greater than any Jovian class except the Athena class sensor platform, the main benefit of the ship was its jump drive. The Avalon would be able to escort any ship up to 27,000 tons through a jump point, giving the Navy free reign wherever it wished to project power. Once a large enough shipyard was available, Admiral Charleston planned to refit the ship with more modern systems and integrate it into the Fleet. For the moment though it was seriously damaged. No fuel storage was available, most of the engines and weapons were damaged and all three fire controls were disabled. The priority was to repair the fuel storage, transfer some fuel from the Second Battle Squadron and move the ship out of the combat area.
Avalon class Jump Battlecruiser (ex-Enclave) 27,000 tons 760 Crew 4216 BP TCS 540 TH 1728 EM 0
3200 km/s JR 4-250 Armour 7-80 Shields 0-0 Sensors 33/11/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 96
Maint Life 0.72 Years MSP 878 AFR 648% IFR 9% 1YR 1212 5YR 18181 Max Repair 696 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 2
J27200(4-250) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 27200 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 4
96 EP Ion Drive (18) Power 96 Fuel Use 73.6% Signature 96 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,750,000 Litres Range 24.9 billion km (90 days at full power)
15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (24) Range 180,000km TS: 3200 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
CIWS-120 (3x8) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S04 96-3000 (3) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (17) Total Power Output 76.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR416-R77 (1) GPS 33264 Range 417.0m km Resolution 77
Thermal Sensor TH3-33 (1) Sensitivity 33 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-11 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 11m kmMeanwhile, Odysseus was chasing the Jaguar class battleship. She was 600,000 kilometres from her target when a Jovian freighter sixty-three million kilometres away was hit by six strength-15 warheads. Amazingly it survived, due to the ability of its huge commercial engines to withstand damage. The freighters was one of two accompanying an Aeolus class salvage ship working on the wreck of a Piranha class battleship. A second salvo resulted in seven more hits but the freighter held together despite the loss of its cargo hold and two thirds of its engines. Seven missiles struck the second freighter, which also survived. The salvage ship was less fortunate. Five missile hits triggered a strength-42 secondary explosion which blew the Aeolus to pieces. The Jaguar had obviously fired on the salvage operation during in-between the attacks on the Second Battle Squadron, which explained the apparent pause in firing. Both crippled freighters could still move so they immediately set course for the Sol jump point. Vice Admiral Charleston realised that the recent successes of the Federation Navy had led to complacency and the Enclave had just provided a reminder that salvage operations did not belong in a combat zone.
As soon as the salvage ship exploded, the Jaguar reversed course to head for the Enclave home world, allowing Odysseus to rapidly close the range. She opened fire with only two of her six twin laser turrets, attempting to slow down the battleship so that it could be boarded. The Jaguar gradually slowed down but was still moving at almost 2000 km/s when it suddenly exploded. Trying to damage ships enough to slow them to less than 500 km/s without destroying them during the process was proving to be a difficult task. The destruction of the Jaguar was even more frustrating because it could have been destroyed much earlier by missile attack, which might have prevented the attack on the salvage force. However, some risks had to be taken in order to secure such valuable prizes as the Avalon.
On December 30th 2206 the Enclave launched a Piranha class battleship and a Black Widow class destroyer. The latter was a known missile combatant. The Piranha moved toward the Second Battle Squadron while the Black Widow began to open the range. Impavidus and Inceptris each had forty Javelin anti-ship missiles in their magazines. They fired all eighty at the Enclave battleship. Half the missiles were intercepted but six of the remainder caused internal damage, enough to cause a drop in speed to 2844 km/s. Rashnu, the second Mithras class ammunition transport, was accompanying the Second Battle Squadron and its magazines contained two hundred and sixty-two Javelin II anti-ship missiles; enough to reload both cruisers. The engine of the Javelin II was based on magneto-plasma technology, was gave the missile a speed of 33,300 km/s compared to 25,000 km/s for the Javelin I. The onboard thermal sensor had also been upgraded. A new salvo was launched, marking the combat debut of Javelin II. The new missile was harder for the Enclave point defence to intercept and fourteen Javelins hit their target, causing a strength-17 secondary explosion. The Piranha’s speed fell to 1244 km/s.
By this point incoming missiles had been detected. Each wave comprised five size-5 missiles and there were many waves. Even so, the low number of missiles in each wave meant there was virtually no chance that they would penetrate the Jovian defences. The Second Battle Squadron moved around the damaged Piranha while fending off the continual attacks from the Black Widow. When the missile attacks finally ceased, Commodore Takeo sent Odysseus sent after the Black Widow while Cerberus approached the Piranha. Cerberus scored her first hit at 158,000 kilometres and continued firing. She fired again at 133,000 and there was no response from the battleship. Commodore Takeo ordered her to slow down the battleship to 500 km/s to allow a boarding action so Cerberus closed to 120,000 kilometres and maintained her rate of fire. The Piranha when still moving at 780 km/s when it was struck by a single strength-2 hit from the destroyer’s 19cm spinal laser. The damage triggered a catastrophic failure of structural integrity and the battleship broke apart.
Odysseus was more successful. Her fast firing 10cm lasers battered the Black Widow until its speed fell to 532 km/s, allowing a boarding action to be carried out by the first cohort of Legio II ‘Apollo’. The crew surrendered within a few minutes. The captured ship was a Whitworth class Missile Destroyer with long-ranged fire control and sensors, five launchers and a close-in weapon system that provided a degree of integral point defence. The Whitworth was in bad shape but retained both an engine and fuel, plus sufficient spares to repair a second engine. It was dispatched toward Sparta and from there it would make its way to the Jovian home worlds to join the other ex-Enclave prizes. Vice Admiral Charleston was becoming increasingly concerned about the rate of Enclave shipbuilding. New ships were appearing every few days. If the Federation Navy was not stationed close to the Enclave home world, destroying the ships as they were built, the Enclave would be building up a truly formidable fleet.
Whitworth class Missile Destroyer (ex-Enclave) 9,000 tons 189 Crew 1438 BP TCS 180 TH 576 EM 0
3200 km/s Armour 6-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 22/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 25
Maint Life 2.03 Years MSP 300 AFR 216% IFR 3% 1YR 97 5YR 1450 Max Repair 216 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 3
Magazine 637
96 EP Ion Drive (6) Power 96 Fuel Use 73.6% Signature 96 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 950,000 Litres Range 25.8 billion km (93 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x8) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 5 Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 50
Missile Fire Control FC208-R77 (1) Range 208.5m km Resolution 77
Active Search Sensor MR208-R77 (1) GPS 16632 Range 208.5m km Resolution 77
Thermal Sensor TH2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22m km
